Umbrella Corporation
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The Umbrella Corporation (less commonly known as Umbrella, Inc.) (傘株式会社) is a fictional biotech company set in the Resident Evil/Biohazard universe. It operates ruthlessly as a major international player in a number of markets including pharmaceuticals, medical hardware and computers along with more clandestine operations utilising genetic engineering and bioweaponry. The corporation also appears to have military equipment, such as Harrier VTOL jets, C-130 cargo planes, armed guards, prison facilities, CH-58 Sea Stallion helicopters and other weapons.
Though it was originally portrayed as a sterotypical 'evil corporation', similar to Weyland-Yutani from the Alien series, it was given an elaborate backstory and presence that stretches back to the turn of the century in Resident Evil Code: Veronica. Acording to the Resident Evil movies, it's motto is "Our Business is Life Itself".
History
The Beginnings of the T-Virus, a legacy of death
1950s December 4
Ozwell E. Spencer, Edward Ashford and James Marcus create/discover the Progenitor Virus. Marcus starts research on the virus immediately.
1963-1967
Over the course of 4 years, a Mansion is built in the forest near Raccoon City, by famous New York Architect George Trevor.
'1967'
November 10 Trevor's wife and daughter, Jessica and Lisa, are invited to the Spencer Estate by Spencer himself. They soon disappear after their arrival. They are both used as test subjects for the Progenitor Virus. Though Jessica dies, Lisa lives and becomes a test subject for all of Umbrella's viruses over the course of the next 21 years.
November 13 George Trevor arrives at the estate, and meets with his host. Spencer tells Trevor that his family went to the hospital to visit his aunt Emma, who has unexpectedly fallen ill. Both of them enjoy a banquet in the dining hall.
November 14 Spencer takes Trevor on a tour around the estate and shows him his vast collection of art objects. Spencer says that he plans to found a pharmaceutical company called "Umbrella", and turn the mansion into a seaside resort for its employees. Lisa Trevor begins to feel the effects of the Progenitor Virus injected into her body four days earlier, and wonders where could her mother be, and if she escaped and left her behind.
November 15 Lisa and her mother eat together. Lisa soon discovers that this is not her mother and feels "different inside". She peels off the woman's face like a mask, and wears it over her own.
November 17 Lisa encounters a coffin, and wonders if her mother's body is inside. She unsuccessfully tries to open it, and tries to figure out why she can't do it.
November 18 George Trevor starts to worry about his family, and is frustrated by the lack of telephones in the mansion. He discovers the entrance to a tunnel in the courtyard, and wonders about this oddity, which wasn't in his original design. Several men suddenly appear and force Trevor to leave, telling him that he shouldn't wander around without company.
November 20 Trevor wonders where the shotgun that his wife gave to Spencer for his birthday is. He finds a broken one in one of the rooms, but it isn't the same one. Trevor grows more and more concerned about his family, but when he tells Spencer that he wishes to see them, Spencer only laughs and tells him that it is pointless to worry.
November 21 Trevor packs his bags, and is taken to a reception room. While he waits for his host with one of the men that told him to leave the courtyard, he's suddenly injected with a substance that makes him faint, right after the man tells him that his family has died.
November 24 Trevor is imprisoned in a room infested with ant-like creatures, where a man brings him food and tells him that that he's sorry to put Trevor through this, but he’s doing it for security reasons. Trevor remembers that he had designed an escape route out of this room, but wonders if this is merely Spencer's test of the mansion's secrets.
November 26 Trevor loses his lighter, the one that Jessica had given to him for his birthday. He begins to recall when Spencer told him that his aunt was sick and that Jessica and Lisa had decided to visit her, as well as the moment when he was told that his family was dead.
November 27 Trevor escapes from the room, but can't seem to find his way out of the mansion, and doesn't have time to look for the keys he needs.
November 29 Trevor tries every possible way to escape, but realizes that he's trapped. He spots a high heeled shoe in one of the mansion's corridors, and realizes it belongs to his wife, Jessica. He refuses to believe that they shared the same fate as him, and prays for their safety.
November 30 Trevor hasn't eaten in days and begins to feel dehydrated. He starts to regret designing the mansion in the first place, and muses that he should have known better.
December 1 Trevor finds another dead end, and realizes that he's finally trapped for good. In the darkness, something catches his eye. Lighting the last match he has, he quickly comes to the conclusion that the object is actually a tombstone, with his name carved on it. He realizes that Spencer has orchestrated his death as a sick joke. There, Trevor starves to death after praying for his wife and daughter's lives.
The Beginning of Umbrella
1950s-1968 March 23 Spencer announces to Edward Ashford and James Marcus that he plans to found a company. Marcus doesn’t show much interest in Spencer’s actions, and agrees with anything he wants to do, as long as he can continue his research on the Progenitor Virus. 1968 Umbrella Inc. is founded by Ozwell E. Spencer, Edward Ashford and James Marcus, as a cover up for their Bio Weapon research.
Dr Edward Ashford supposedly dies of natural causes as his son's research goes through a "difficult phase". The Ashford family name is tarnished and Spencer's influence inside the company grows rapidly.
Ashford's Exile
1968-1970
Alexander Ashford builds a research facility in the South Pole, where he plans to work on the "Veronica" Project in order to revive the tarnished Ashford Family name. He also builds a mansion for himself, modeled after the Spencer Estate.
1971
Alexander discovers the human gene that regulates intelligence after many years of research. He then takes a sample of DNA from his ancestor Veronica, extracts this gene and implants it into the egg of a surrogate mother. Much to his surprise, twins are born from the process. He names them Alfred and Alexia Ashford. Alfred has above-average intelligence, but Alexia is a downright genius. Alexander considers her the literal reincarnation of his ancestor, Veronica.
Back at Umbrella Corp
Mid-1970s August 19
Umbrella Inc. rapidly grows and becomes an international corporation. Ozwell Spencer asks James Marcus to be the director of the new Training Facility, which is built eight miles away from Raccoon City, and is meant to train men and women from all over the world to become Umbrella employees.
1977 September 2
Albert Wesker and William Birkin are recruited by the Assistant Director of the Umbrella Training Facility to be trained as researchers.
The Naming of the Beast, its early years
'1977'
September 19
James Marcus creates a new virus by combining the Progenitor Virus with leech DNA. He calls it "T" for Tyrant and decides to keep it a secret from all the other researchers.
September 25 The Assistant Director notes a friendship/rivalry relationship between Wesker and Birkin.
October 7 Dr Marcus tells the Assistant Director to encourage a rivalry between Wesker and Birkin. The A.D. wonders about the Doctor’s sudden interest in them.
October 23 Marcus begins to think that only humans can be suitable as guinea pigs for his T-Virus Research.
November 15 Dr Marcus suspects that someone might know about his experiments and T-Virus research.
'1978'
January 13 Marcus finishes preparing his leeches for T-Virus experimentation.
In-House Intrigue, T-Virus as a Bio-Weapon
1978
January 31 James finds out that someone has indeed been looking for the T-Virus and his leeches and assumes it must be the work of Spencer and his lackeys.
February 3 The T-Virus is injected into four leeches by Marcus. Their will to survive leads them first to parasitism and predation, and they later begin to multiply. Marcus believes that their single-minded biology makes them attractive candidates for Biological Weapons.
February 10 The leeches grow to double their former size after 7 days pass from the first T-Virus administration. The first signs of T-Virus transformation begin to appear. The leeches start showing cannibalistic behavior, so Marcus hurries to increase their food supply.
February 11 Marcus again finds evidence of people looking for the T-Virus and his leeches. He decides to ask Wesker and Birkin to take care of his lab and research. Little does he know, they've been actually playing him all along in order to gain his trust, as well as some insight in his T-Virus research.
March 7 Marcus continues his research on the leeches. They have ceased cannibalism, and are now working as a disciplined pack. Their evolution goes far beyond Marcus's expectations.
Swarm Behaviour
'1978'
April 22 Marcus's leeches begin to work and move together, and no longer exhibit individual behavior.
April 30 Marcus begins to wonder if a human can be a suitable food source for the leeches.
June 3 The leeches begin to mimic Marcus' actions, a day that he considers worthy of commemoration.
Theft of Research, Cloak and Dagger
'1978'
June 3-July 29 Marcus is assassinated under Spencer's orders, which are carried out by Wesker and Birkin. They steal his research on the T-Virus, and claim it as their own. Marcus's body is dumped in the sewers under the Training Facility, but the Queen Leech he was researching at the time enters his dead body, and the T-Virus it carries starts to mutate Marcus's cellular composition.
July 29 The Training Facility is closed. Wesker and Birkin are appointed as chief researchers in the Arklay Laboratories, which are located under the Spencer Mansion. They also bring the T-Virus research with them, and announce to the other researchers that Birkin was the man behind the creation of the T-Virus, presumably with the assisstance of Wesker.
July 31 Wesker and Birkin visit the Arklay Labs for the first time. As soon as they arrive, they ignore the Laboratory Manager and proceed to the main lab. Finally, they are taken to a room where they meet the “Woman”, a female test subject that has been experimented on for 11 years, since her first viral injection on November 10, 1967. Little do they know, this creature is actually Lisa Trevor, daughter of the architect that designed the Mansion.
'1981'
July 27 Ten-year-old Alexia Ashford is appointed as chief researcher in the South Pole Laboratory.
Development of the T-Virus as a Biological Weapon
'1981'
July 27-1983 December 31 Wesker becomes irritated, since his subordinates do nothing but talk about Alexia every time their research comes to a standstill. Birkin, on the other hand, begins to behave erratically and develops intense negative feelings towards Alexia. Wesker tries unsuccessfully to pull him back to his senses, since their research is not yielding any results because of his behavior.
The T-Virus becomes stable enough to create living biological weapons, better known as zombies, by simply infecting a person with it. However, Wesker soon realizes that the T-Virus isn't powerful enough to infect 100% of the people that are exposed to it. 10% of the test subjects would not become infected, no matter how hard the researchers tried to change this. Spencer starts to provide more funds for the research, and asks the researchers to create a variant of the T-Virus that can infect and wipe out 100% of the people exposed to it. Wesker starts to ask himself why Spencer would want them to create such a thing, since it is starting to become very expensive.
Compensating for Error
Birkin is able to create another type of Living Biological Weapon, one which relies on its ability to fight, rather than infect. It is designed to kill all the people that wouldn't become infected in the case of a T-Virus outbreak, as well as individuals who wore "Haz-Mat" suits. It is later called the Hunter, and is created by infecting a person's DNA with the T-Virus, and later combining it with the DNA of another reptilian creature. However, the experiments have to be suspended temporarily, in order to protect the test subjects from Birkin, who is carrying out rushed experiments one after another at an incredible pace, with unsuccessful results. Wesker believes that Birkin's behavior is a product of his intense anger towards Alexia, which was founded on the fact that Birkin believed that no one could ever outmatch his abilities, something that Alexia had unknowingly done when she was appointed as chief researcher at the South Pole Laboratory at the mere age of ten.
Wesker, on the other hand, notices that the “Woman”, the female test subject that had been experimented on for years, continues to survive through all of Birkin's experiments, unlike any other test subjects.
A Family Affair, Be Sure Your Sins Will Find You Out
'1983' January 30 Alfred Ashford discovers a secret room in Umbrella's Antarctic Facility where the Ashford family secrets are kept. In order to enter the room, he needs to obtain his father's family gem, which must be used in conjunction with his gem and his sister's.
February 17 Alfred finally gains entrance to the secret room, where he discovers his father's research notes, and learns the truth about his and Alexia's birth.
March 3 Alfred and Alexia start to experiment on their hated father (Alexander Ashford, see above) with a new virus developed by Alexia, which was created by combining the Progenitor Virus with an ancient virus that she discovered in a queen ant's DNA. They also take care that the family butler doesn't find out the truth.
March 3-April 22 Alexander mutates into a hideous monster, and gains the ability to produce a toxic gas, which the blue herb has no effect on. Alexia develops an antidote for the gas, and keeps it in case her father escapes. She soon realizes the great potential of her virus, and decides to name it the T-Veronica Virus.
April 22 The twins chain their mindless father in a cell under the Antarctic Facility, after they realize that their experiment turned into a complete failure. Alexia finds out the reason why the experiment failed and starts to conduct experiments on her own body.
Sometime between April and December Alexia injects herself with the T-Veronica Virus, and freezes her body in a capsule for 15 years, after coming up with a cover-up story for her disappearance.
December 31 The researchers at Arklay hear that Alexia has died while conducting experiments at the South Pole Facility. Wesker, however, hears a rumor about Alexia injecting the T-Veronica Virus in her body, and faking her own death. He starts to look for the truth behind this story. Birkin, on the other hand, starts to behave normally again after hearing about Alexia’s alleged death, and opposes Wesker when he tries to get a sample of the T-Veronica Virus.
'1986'
William Birkin marries another researcher from Arklay, Annette Boyd. She then gives birth to Sherry Birkin.
The Nemesis Project, The Zenith of the T-Virus, A New Horror
1988 July 1-December 31
Wesker, Birkin and the other researchers decide that it's time to create a third generation living biological weapon: a super soldier created with the T-Virus, intelligent enough to obey programmed orders. They decide to call it the Tyrant, and begin working on it immediately. However, their research soon hits a standstill: due to the nature of the T-Virus, the researchers are able to create zombies and Hunters out of virtually any human, however, because of the T-Virus' tendency to make the number of the carrier's brain cells decline, only one person infected with the T-Virus in ten million becomes a Tyrant, while the rest become zombies. Wesker starts to feel frustrated by this, until he hears a rumor that a lab in France was able to develop a third generation of living biological weapons, using a slightly different approach: instead of infecting a person's body and brain at the same time with the T-Virus, they created a highly intelligent parasitic life form, which was unable to do anything on its own, until it entered a test subject's brain and took control of it. Then, the subject's DNA composition would immediately start to mutate. The final product was a highly intelligent Tyrant, which would obey orders and was able to operate human weaponry; that was Nemesis.
Immediately after hearing this, Wesker hurries to get a Nemesis Parasite sample, but Birkin strongly opposes him. Wesker manages to persuade him, nevertheless, and that same night, a helicopter arrives at the lab with the samples. Not much time goes by, however, before Wesker finds a problem with the Nemesis: the parasite immediately kills the host after 5 minutes of entering its brain. Wesker and the other researchers can't seem to figure what causes this problem, so they decide to administer the parasite to the "Woman". Much to their surprise, the parasite vanishes after entering her brain, and no signs of physical mutation are noticeable. However, Birkin soon notices that something inside of her has indeed changed, and carries out full-body exams. The discovery of the G-Virus soon follows.
A Career Change for Wesker
1991
Wesker leaves Arklay, as well as his position as chief researcher, and takes command of the S.T.A.R.S. Raccoon City Branch.
Early-to-mid 1990s
Birkin moves his G-Virus research to a huge underground complex underneath Raccoon City, after the G-Virus Project gets Spencer’s approval.
Old Habits Die Hard
1995 July 31
Wesker visits Arklay and reunites with Birkin. The "Woman" is supposedly disposed of by the researchers, after exhibiting strange behavior, and killing three scientists. Her body is taken somewhere else three days later as per laboratory orders.
An Oath of Vengeance, The End of the Beginning, and the Beginning of the End
1980-1998 May 11
James Marcus rises from the dead after his DNA has been mutated enough by the Queen Leech, and vows revenge against Umbrella. This oath would later become the cause of the infamous "Raccoon City incident".
1998 September 29-Early 2004
The U.S Government, having learned of Umbrella's involvement in illegal bioresearch and weapons development, puts an indefinite halt to their business decree, causing their share prices in the stock market to fall. Umbrella goes bankrupt and discontinues research, and the U.S arrests and convicts almost all of their employees in the U.S. The French government shuts down the Umbrella Headquarters in Paris and arrests the heads of Umbrella and hand them over to the U.S. The South American government nukes the Rockfort Island Umbrella Prison, and the U.S follows suit with Umbrella's bases in the U.S and Sheena Island off the coast of the U.S. Armed Biohazard-clad Special Forces Members removed the T-Virus and G-Virus in order to prevent them from getting into the air and zombifying the entire U.S, and killed any experiments or Bio Organic Weapons being held there. Umbrella laboratories were nuked, and both viruses were disposed of properly. However, a few loyal researchers escaped the U.S were apparently in hiding in Europe, but were mercilessly hunted down by the American government. Umbrella is officially dead. The T-Virus threat is gone, reduced to a mere scientific curiosity.